Method and apparatus for cooling and conditioning air in railway cars



Dec. 12, 1933. w MADDEN 1,939,179

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND CONDITIONING AIR IN RAILWAY CARS Filed April 5. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES 5 5 W4.WJ B

I INVENTOR: J/l Z'ZZZZUZZ JMLMdeJZ A TTORNEYS.

LWAY CARS W. J. MADDEN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND CONDITIONING AIR IN RAI Filed April 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TOR: JMmZdezz,

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Patented Dec. 12, 1933 PATENT OFFICE 1,939,179 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND CONDITIONING AIR IN CARS RAILWAY William J. Madden, Lansdowne, Pa.

Application April 3, 1931. Serial No. 527,404

Claims.

This invention relates particularly to a method of and apparatus for cooling and conditioning the air in railway cars, such as sleeping cars or other passenger cars, the primary object of the inven- 5 tion being to increase the comfort of passengers by reducing the temperature of the air and freeing the air of dust, cinders, and other foreign matter. v

One object of the invention is to provide a comparatively compact and inexpensive air cooling and conditioning unit adaptedto be readily attached to and removed from a railway car as oocasion demands. Another object of the invention is to provide in such an air cooling and conditioning unit a circulatory system between the interior of the car to be cooled and the exterior refrigerating chamber, in which the cooled air travels in a closed circuit from the refrigerated chamber to the car and is returned to the refrigerated chamber for additional cooling andrecirculation.

Other objects and advantages characterizing my invention will become more fully apparent from the description hereinafter of one embodiment or example of the practice of the invention,

whereof:

Fig. I is a side elevation of a car showing air cooling and conditioning apparatus of this invention applied to the car at a station platform.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged side elevation of the air cooling and conditioning unit by itself; and,

Fig. III is an-end elevation of the same.

In the drawings there is illustrated an ordinary sleeping car 1 standing at a station platform 2. The a r cooling and conditioning unit, which in this instance is a self-contained portable unit, is comprehensively designated at 3. The car cooling unit 3 is adapted for temporary attachment to a car at a station platform, and this form of apparatus is particularly useful when applied to sleeping cars stand ng for long periods of time in tunnels or train sheds or other locations where the air is likely to be contaminated with smoke, cinders, dust and the like, and where the tem- 45 perature may be abnormally high.

The air cleaning and cooling apparatus is mounted on a standard drop-flame type electrical baggage truck 4. The portable truck 4 is disposed in parallel relation to the side of the car 50 l and in proximity to a central window 18 of the car. The. truck body includes a platform 5, vertically disposcdends 6, and box-shaped housings 7 at each end in the vicinity of the wheels 8. Within the housings 7 an electric storage battery 7,5 and motor or other means by which the truck having reference to the accompanying drawings,

ed chamber 19 there is a compartment 24 within may be self-propelled are accommodated. An additional storage battery may also be included to furnish power for the electric motor 9 which operates the air cooling and conditioning apparatus.

At each side of the truck 4 there is an air intake 10. Either intake may be used for connection with the interior of the car to which the apparatus is applied, and for this purpose there may be used a canvas duct or spout as shown at 11, said duct being flexible and leading laterally from the central window 18 in the car to the air intake. At the air intakes, dampers 12 are provided for controlling the rate of cooling, so that a car may be cooled to a predetermined degree and '70 kept cool over an extended period. The air intakes 10 converge upward from the sides of the truck and join with the surrounding casing 13 of a fan 14. The fan 14 is mounted centrally of the platform 5 and is connected by a belt as indicated at 16 with the shaft 17 of the motor 9. Air withdrawn from the center of the car through the window 18, the duct 11 and the intake passage 10, is carried through the fan 14 into a plenum chamber 15 where the air is divided, an equal portion travelling towards each end of the truck as indicated by the arrows. 4

There is mounted above the box-shaped housing '7 a refrigerated chamber 19 which extends 1ongitudinally of the truck. The refrigerated chamber 19 is divided into two sections, and in each section thereof there are a number of spray nozzles 20 projecting from a row of vertical pipes 21' and directed toward the end of the truck. In the path of the spray issuing from the nozzles 20 there are provided a number of eliminators 22 which comprise flat plates arranged vertically within the refrigerated chamber 19 between the spray pipes 21 and the air discharge outlet 23. The eliminator plates are so arranged that the air may pass around them but the moisture in the air is deposited on the plates and prevented from being carried over into the air discharge passage.

Atthe bottom of each section of the refrigeratwhich are placed removable ice trays 25. Beneath the ice trays 25 there is a water space '26 which is initially filled with water and replenished from time to time from the melting of the crushed ice which is preferably used as the cooling medium. Drains 27 with drain valves 28 lead from the water compartments 26 to the bottom of the truck 4, and are used for emptying the water compartments when no further use of the truck isdesired. There are additional pipes 29 11( I v and 30 for carrying water from compartments 26 to a centrifugal pump 31 mounted on the floor 5 of the truck and driven by the motor 9 through a. belt 32. Pipes 33 and 34 connected with the discharge side of the pump 31 carry the cooling fluid to the top of the truck and thence to the rows of spray pipes 21 in each section of the refrigerated chamber 19. Accordingly, while the motor 9 is running, there is a continual circulation of water from the bottom of each section of the refrigerated chamber 19 through the centrifugal pump 31 and from thence to-the spray noz-' zles 20. The spray of cold water not only assists in cooling the air within the refrigerated chambers 19, but also cleans the air, freeing it from dust particles and other foreign matter.

Connected to the air discharge outlets 23 at each end of the truck 4, there are canvas ducts 35 leading in opposite directions to the end. of the car 1. These ducts are fitted to windows 36 at each end'of the car and permit the reconditioned air to enter the interior of the car at the ends and pass from the ends towards the center of the car. Air from the center of the car is drawn out by the suction of the fan 14 through the duct 11 and the air intake 10. It

will be noted that the circulation of the air is within a substantiallyiclosed system, the air in the car being continually recirculated through the cooling and conditioning unit so that the efficiency of the unit is high. Of course, additional air will be admitted from time to time through leaks in the car and opened doors and windows.

The entire unit is covered by a top member 37 and side walls 38 made of suitable insulating material. The sections of the refrigerated chambers 19 are separated from the plenum chamber 15 and from the apparatus at the bottom of the truck by vertical and horizontal partitions 39 and 40. The vertical partitions 39 have large central openings 41 through which air from the fan may pass to the sections of the refrigerated chambers 19. V

Inasmuch as the apparatus is self-contained and mounted upon a vehicle carrying its own means of propulsion, the unit may be readily transported .fromone point to another. When thus moved, the ducts 11 and '35, being of'canvas or similar material and flexible enough to be folded, are placed upon the truck.

The cooling and conditioning apparatus of this invention has thus far been described with the member 10 designated as an air intake, and with the ducts 35 designated as discharge ducts, and

thus far it has been assumed that the air circulation takes place in the direction indicated by the arrows shown in Fig; 11. Under this situation air isdrawn from the center of the car through the duct 11 and from thence is-discharged through the plenum chamber 15, where the air divides, one portion of it passing through one section of the refrigerated chamber 19, and the other portion of it passing through the other section,

and from each end of the refrigerated chamber 19 the cooled and reconditioned air is discharged through ducts 35 to the opposite ends of the car.

If, however, the directionof rotation of the fan 14 be changed, the apparatus may still be operated with a reverse direction of air circulation. Under this situation air would be drawn from the opposite ends of the car through 'the two ducts 35 and through the sections of the refrigerated chambers 19 and the plenum chamber 15, where the air from each end of the car would unite. After being cooled to a predetermined degree, the cooled and reconditioned air would then be discharged under pressure through the duct 11 into the opening at the center of the car.

Irrespective of the direction of rotation of the fan 14, it wili'be noted that the cooled air is introduced into the car and discharged from the car through a plurality of ducts so arranged as toeifect two circulatory paths, each through a different portion of the car; and that the operation of the blower effects a continuous circulation of air through each of the circulatory paths, thus increasing the efliciency of the air cooling unit in its function of reconditioning all of the air in a passenger car during the short period which may beavailable when the car is standing at a station.

' While I have described my invention in some detail and with reference to a specific embodiment thereof, it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form of the apparahereto annexed, and that at times certain features of the invention may be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a railway passenger car, an air cooling unit comprising a truck adapted to be positioned alongside the car adjacent a side window thereof, a refrigerated chamber on said truck, a portable duct leading from said refrigerated, chamber to said side window of the car, a blower for introducing cooled air from said refrigerated chamber through said duct into the car, and means whereby air is simultaneously exhausted from another window of the car remote from the window through which the cooled air is initially introduced.

2. In combination" with a railway passenger car, an air cooling unit comprising a truck adapted to be positioned alongside the car adjacent a side window thereof, a refrigerated chamber. on said truck, a portable duct leading from said refrigerated chamberto said side window oi the car, a blower for introducing cooled air from said refrigerated chamber through said duct into the car, and an additional portable duct leading from said refrigerated chamber to another window of the car and serving to simultaneously exhaust air from the car and return it to the refrigerated chamber for recirculation.

3. A self-contained air cooling unit for temporary attachment to railway passenger cars, comprising a truck adapted to be positioned alongside such a car, a refrigerated chamber on said truck, intakeand discharge ducts leading from windows of the car and arranged to form a plurality of closed circulatory paths each through a different portion of the car, and a blower on said truck for simultaneously effecting a continuous circulation of air through each of said circulatory paths. I

4. A self-contained air cooling and conditioning unit for temporary attachment to railway passenger cars, comprising a truck having 'a depressed platform and elevated end housing over the wheels, an air cooling chamber disposed lon-- gitudinally on said truck with its ends supported on said end housings, said cooling chamber being divided longitudinally into two sections, ducts leading from the ends of said cooling chamber and adapted for attach'in'ent to the side of the car to be cooled near the ends of the car, an additional duct leading from the center of the cooling chamber between its sections to the center of the car, and a blower mounted on the depressed platform beneath said cooling chamber for circulating air through said chamber, said ducts and the interior of the car.

5. The method of cooling passenger cars which consists in passing a current of air through a portable exterior cooling chamber alongside the ing chamber.

of circulatory paths through said car and cool- WILLIAM J. MADDEN. 

